Apparatus for separating clay or other insoluble materials.



PATENTED JUNE 28, 1904.

M. W. PHILLIPS. APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING CLAY OR OTHER INSOLUBLB MATERIALS.

APPLICATION FILED DBO.11, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

in ue-nfoz YNE-NORRYS PETERS 00., Puomuwa, WASHINGTON, D, c,

UNITED STATES Patented June 28, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

MAURICE W. PHILLIPS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE PENNSYLVANIA CLAY. COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

APPARATUS FOR SEPARATlNG CLAY OR OTHER INSOLUBLE MATERIALS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 763,792, dated June 28, 1904.

Application filed December 11, 1902. Serial No. 134,751. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MAURICE W. PHILLIPS, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Separating Clay or other Insoluble Materials, of which the following is a specification.

In United States Letters Patent No. 715, 212, granted December 2, 1902, and No. 717,118, granted December 30, 1902, I have shown an apparatus and method for separating clay and other insoluble materials, the leading feature of which is the employment of a fibrous screen of the finest mesh, which when the material to be separated is fed thereupon, suspended in water, absorbs a portion of the water, so that the size of the mesh is reduced, whereby I am enabled to screen a finer product than has heretofore been attained by screening, as far as I am informed.

My present invention embodies the same general principle; and it consists of improvements thereon by means of which the screening operation can be carried on in a more efficient manner.

Figure 1 represents a vertical section of a plurality of screens embodied in the system constructed in accordance with'my invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan thereof. Fig. 3 represents a perspective view in detail of a distributing device used in connection with these screens.

Similar letters of referenceindicate corresponding parts in the figures.

Referring to the drawings to illustrate my invention, I have shown four screens situated one behind the other, although it is -understood that the number may be increased or diminished and that any convenient number of screens can be employed side by side in any of the rows, only one screen in each row being shown in the present instance for convenience of illustration.

In said drawings, A designates a screening device as a whole consisting, essentially, of a box B open at its front, over which open front is suitably stretched the screen C, of fibrous material, such as silk or the like. The screening device A is suspended in an upright position, conveniently by means of a hook D at its upper end, supportedupon a bar E, it being understood, of course, that when more than one screening device A is situated in a row the bar E is extended to support the plurality of screening devices. The main supply-pipe F is situated near the upper ends of the screening devices, and from which, opposite each screening device, is a valve-controlled branch G, supplying the distributing-pipe H. The

distributing-pipe H is suitably perforated on the side thereof adjacent the screen and delivers water carrying the suspended material to be screened into a trough or channel J which is formed by a distributing-plate K, secured between the sides and open end of the box carrying the screen. This plate K stands at an inclination to the screen C, and its lower edge, which is finely notched or serrated, as shown at L, practically contacts With the front face of the screen. Thus when the water and suspended material is delivered into the trough or channel J it partially fills the trough and and is effectively distributed over the entire front face of the screen, so that it passes down thereover evenly throughout the entire face thereof.

Contacting with the rear face of the screen C are a plurality of transverse deflectors suitably secured between the sides of the box B and which serve the twofold purpose of guiding the water and suspended material passing through the screen away from the rear face thereof at intervals and also as an additional support for the screen. From the lower end of each of the screening devices is an outlet M for carrying off the water and suspended material passing through the screen. The outlet M communicates by means of a pipe N with a box P, which is situated below the lower end of the screen, while leading from the box P are the troughs or pipes Q, communicating with the reservoir B, it being noted that the pipes Q lead from the bottom of the box P downwardly to said reservoir.

WVhen the screening operation is being carried out, the screening devices are placed in an upright position, or substantially sothat is to say, they are not necessarially strictly vertical, but may be situated at an inclination, although the degree of the angle is so slight that they are substantially upright. I further, to regulate and control the screening operation with a high degree of efiiciency, make the screening devices adjustablethat is, I support them so that the degree of their inclination can be regulated. To accomplish this in a simple manner, it is noted that the hooks D and the bar E form a pivotal support for the screening devices A, upon which they can be swung to the front or rear and may be secured by chains or other devices S, secured at one end to the lower end of the box A, either at the front, as shown on the left-hand screening device in Fig. 1, or at the rear, as shown in the other screening devices. The other end of this chain S may be secured to hooks T or may be secured to the bars E, upon which adjacent screening devices are supported. It is understood that the degree of inclination of the screening devices can be regulated by taking up or loosening the chains S. The pipes N, leading from the bottom of the screening devices to the box P, can of course be lengthened or shortened, according to the distance from the box, either by the substitution of new lengths of pipes or the addition or removal of a section thereof,which can be coupled or uncoupled in an obvious manner.

The operation is as follows: It is understood that the object of my invention is to produce a screening device that will separate the fine from the coarse particles and other deleterious matters contained in the clay. To accomplish this, the material to be separated is finely divided and suspended in water, and being insoluble it does not dissolve, but the particles are divided as finely as can be practically accomplished mechanically. Then the water and suspended material is fed to the main supplypipes F, and when the branches G are open the same is distributed, by means of the pipe H, into the trough formed by the plate K. This trough is partially filled and then the water and suspended material passing through the bottom thereof and the number of fine openings extending across the entire face of the screen and the notches L, such water and suspended material is distributed evenly across the entire face of the screen and passes downwardly thcreover. It will be noticed that the left-hand screening device in Fig. 1 is inclined downwardly and forwardly toward its lower end, while the other screening devices are inclined in the opposite direction or to the rear, so that while the face of the screen of the left-hand screening device A in Fig. l faces upward to a slight extent the faces of the screens of the other screening devices face downwardly, and while a part of the water and suspended material would pass through the left-hand screen by gravity alone, yet I have devised means for insuring the passage of a part of the water and suspended materials therethrough and through the other screens. It is understood that when the water passes over the screen C, of fibrous materialwhich is,for instance,silk of the finest mesh procurable or upon the marketthe fibers of the silk swell, due to absorption of water, and thereby reduce the size of the mesh so that only the very finest particles 'of the suspended material can pass therethrough with the water. This reduction of the size of the mesh retards to a certain extent the passage of the water and suspended material, and I have found that by maintaining a column of water in the pipes N a certain amount of suction is created, which will assist in causing a portion of water and suspended material to pass through the screens. In operation I have found that, for instance, when the water and suspended material is first turned onto the screen it will pass down and over the front face thereof, but that only a small portion passes therethrough in some cases, and then to start the screening operation in an effective manner I have found that by applying a hose upon the lower end of the screen sufiicient water is forced through to fill the lower end of the interior of the box and the pipe N and that then the head of water in the pipe N flowing into the box P creates sufiicient suction to insure the passage of a portion of the water and suspended material through the screen. Other methods of filling the pipes N to secure the head and the suction can of course be resorted to.

I have also found that to carry out the screening operation most eifectively the box P should not be filledthat is to say, that an area of the air-space within the box P should be a little less than the combined area of the air-spaces within the screening devices in the rear of the screens. Of course it is understood that the degree of inclination of the different screening devices regulates and controls the amount of water and suspended material passing through the screens and that this depends upon the skill of the operator, the quality of the material, and the product to be screened and other conditions. The water and suspended material passing across the front face of the screen and not through the screens passes down onto the floor U of the room in which the screens may be situated and can be conducted to any suitable point by the trough B.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a screening apparatus, a screen of fine mesh, a feeder of capacity to constantly feed material suspended in liquid in quantity in excess of the ability of the screen-meshes to pass the same, a chamber having said screen for one of its walls and otherwise closed, and a discharge-conduit of sufiiciently small capacity to permit the material passing through the screen to create suction and thereby cause an excess of atmospheric pressure against the material uponthe screen.

2. In a screening apparatus, a pivotally-supported screen of fine mesh, a feeder of capacity to constantly feed material suspended in liquid in quantity in excess of the ability of the screen to pass the same, a chamber having said screen for one of its walls and otherwise closed, and a discharge-conduit of sufiiciently small capacity to permit the material passing through the screen to create suction and thereby cause an excess of atmospheric pressure against the material upon the screen.

3. In a screening apparatus, a plurality of pivotally-mounted screens, each of fine mesh, a feeder for each screen of capacity to constantly feed material suspended in liquid in quantity in excess of the ability of the screen to pass the same, chambers having said screens for one of their walls and otherwise closed,

a discharge-conduit for each chamber of sufficiently small capacity to permit the material passing through the screen to create suction and thereby cause an excess of atmospheric pressure against the material upon the screen, a closed box into which said discharge-conduits empty, and a suction-creating device connected with'said closed box.

4. In a screening apparatus, a screening device consisting of a box or chamber for screening the fine mesh extending across an open side thereof, said box being pivotally supported, means forvarying the inclination of said box, means for feeding the material suspended in liquid to be screened at the upper end of said screen, a closed outlet from the lower end of said box and a closed receptacle communicating therewith and forming a suction means.

MAURICE W. PHILLIPS.

Witnesses:

JOHN A. WIEDERSHEIM, C. D. MoVAY. 

